Another month has passed us by, and while I wish I had more to update y’all with, announcements and exciting news tidbits have not arrived yet…but I do have several on the horizon and I can’t wait to be able to talk about what I’ve been working on. I know, I know, it’s a real tease situation but I’m beholden to when folks deem it okay to start sharing more information.

Once again, I defer to next month and let’s collectively cross our fingers that I’ll be able to talk about some stuff then. In the meantime though, I can tell you about what I’ve been watching and reading! I’ve been back into a gaming mode too and devoured Cattails as well as Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town. Love me a fun little Stardew-esque adventure.

But anyways, I’m sorry for the otherwise fairly boring update…let’s get into the stuff I’ve been enjoying:

TV:

• Poker Face S1 – What an incredible show! Each episode had a setup that made me genuinely utter out loud, “That was so compelling!” every time. While I liked Glass Onion, I liked Knives Out a lot more and this show felt like a series of satisfyingly standalone mini-movie mysteries. Truly one of my favourites of the year, for sure.
• The Last of Us S1 – What can I say about about TLOU that hasn’t been said by everyone else online? It was great. And it had been long enough since I played the game that certain parts of the show were a surprise to me. And I loved what they elaborated and expanded on. Perfect casting! I think it struggles to really convey the amount of time that’s passing along the way but that’s a very small nitpick for an overall excellent series.
• Perfect Match S1

Similar to last month, I both did and didn’t watch a lot of TV. I watched a lot of junk inbetween some of the heavy hitters you see above, and I’ve been working my way through other prestige TV that I haven’t wrapped up yet. As you can see too, I’m only really choosing to write about the shows that I really connected with. Like, I enjoyed Perfect Match, but I don’t have much to say about it. Ya know?

Moving onto books…

BOOKS:

• A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers – Truly a warm hug of a book. Short, to the point, and wholeheartedly wonderful.
• Batcat by Meggie Ramm – Batcat is a delightful tail (a-wink) of identity and letting people into your life. When a ghost moves into Batcat’s home, shattering their solitude, they seek out the help of a local witch to get rid of the ghost once and for all. Batcat goes on a quest to get the items that the witch needs…and begins learning more about themself and having empathy for others along the way! Batcat is a sweet and engaging graphic novel told with fun art that pops with vibrant, bright colours. It’s sure to be a hit with young audiences, especially those who are neither this or that.
• What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez – This book has been really buzzed about for the last few months and I was interested to see what people were talking about, leading up to its release. I don’t have much to say about it overall—it’s a solid debut for the author—but I will mention that the ending for the book has stayed with me since I read it. Hopeful and powerful.
• Ducks by Kate Beaton – An emotional gut punch and an absolute masterpiece.
• A Gift for a Ghost by Borja González and Lee Douglas (Translator)
• Waves by Ingrid Chabbert, Carole Maurel (Illustrator), and Edward Gauvin (Translator) – Powerful, poignant, and utterly heartbreaking. A beautiful exploration of grief that expertly threads the narrative with stunning art and colour, the latter used in a perfectly beautiful way that will stay with me.
• My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame and Anne Ishii (Translation) – A beautiful and heartfelt exploration of loss, grief, family, and acceptance.
• Scurry by Mac Smith – ‪Beautiful and brilliant. I see influences of Watership Down, Neverending Story, Lord of the Rings, and then also mythology steeped throughout. As someone who has loved reading Karl Kerschl’s The Abominable Charles Christopher, this feels like a modern successor to that as we get darker in the woods, following a group of mice trying to survive after the humans have gone away.‬
• Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
• Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent – The perfect book to scratch a Throne of Glass-esque itch!

As I mentioned last month, I’ve pared this back a bit to include only the books and graphic novels that I read and have something to say about. Mostly, this is now a section for the books and graphic novels that I recommend. So, with that being said, I read a few more things that I didn’t write up reviews for. You can find my full reading list on Goodreads or Storygraph.

That’s it! I continue to not have a lot of updates to share, which is a bummer…but I know for a fact that I’ll have some fun things that I can talk about next month, so stay tuned for that. If there’s anything else exciting that comes up, you can bet that I’ll make a standalone post to talk about it.

Stay safe out there and thank you—as always—for your love and support.